Little Boxes on the Hillside

By Beit T'shuvah
Published on March 14, 2013

Everything is easier than doing good

By Dennis Prager
Published on September 5, 2012

Some thoughts for Rosh Hashanah: If we took a vote on what trait we human beings most value, goodness would undoubtedly win. Certainly goodness is the trait that we most want everyone else to possess. But if we say we value goodness above everything else -- and surely Judaism does -- why aren't there more good people? A big reason is that it is easier to value other things -- including, and especially, positive things -- more than goodness. So it's much easier to be just about anything rather than good. It’s easier to be religious than to be good.

Take back L.A.

By Rob Eshman
Published on July 9, 2008

I love Los Angeles, but let's face facts: We're fast becoming a second-rate city. Public safety is broken. Jews in Los Angeles were rightly outraged in June when Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza killed one Israeli in Sderot. But in one weekend of that same month, 14 Angelenos were murdered in gang-related shootings.

Q & A with Daniel Sokatch -- building a better community

By Brad A. Greenberg
Published on June 26, 2008

As the public face and founding executive director of PJA, Sokatch, 40, has been lauded by the left and loathed by the right.

Progressives should join Jews on Iran strategy

By Andrew Lachman
Published on November 8, 2007

Progressives need to reach out to their natural allies in the Jewish community by acknowledging that the threats of nuclear proliferation and international terrorism exist and support the same reasoned, international approach of sanctions and international pressure that has helped bring the North Korean nuclear program under control.

Time to crapple with ‘real’ Israel

By Naomi Chazan
Published on October 18, 2007

The quest for a fair and sustainable settlement to conflict in the Mideast is indeed central, but the peace process is not the only challenge of Israel's continuing struggle for survival as the state its founders intended it to be. Important, too, are issues that define Israel as a society, as a homeland for Jews, as a democracy. In the long run these and related topics will contribute as much as military and diplomatic matters to answering the question of whether Israel will survive another 60 years.

Maher Hathout—partner for peace or anti-Semite in centrist clothing?

By Marc Ballon
Published on September 14, 2006

Dr. Maher Hathout, like no other local Muslim leader in recent memory, has divided the Jewish community, exposing fissures between Jews who fervently believe in reviving the frayed Jewish-Muslim dialogue and those who have lost faith.

Let There Be Yiddish

By Jane Ulman
Published on July 6, 2006

Tonight is a Yiddish service, Zol Zahn Shabbes -- literally, we should have Shabbat -- and it's happening at Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), founded in 1972 as the world's first synagogue for lesbian and gay Jews.

Community Briefs

By Journal Staff
Published on August 7, 2003

Community Briefs

Israelis Shun Terror as Sole Issue of Life

By Tom Tugend
Published on March 27, 2003

The World Union is the umbrella organization for 1,500 Reform, Reconstructionist, Liberal and Progressive congregations in 44 countries and, Regev estimated, touches the religious, educational and social lives of approximately 2 million Jews.